Another 106 Connecticut AT&T workers to be laid off, union head says

The head of the union representing AT&T workers in Connecticut said the company is eliminating 106 positions, including 76 jobs for installation and repair technicians who service the land line telecommunications network.

William Henderson, president of Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America, said the remaining 30 positions will be cut from clerical staff that fields customer calls about problems that require repair and writes up the paperwork for technicians. The 76 jobs being cut in repair and installations represent about a third of positions left in the state in that particular job category.

"This is insane," Henderson said Friday afternoon. "Apparently, in Texas (where AT&T is headquartered), they care more about profits than service. But in Connecticut, service is what matters."

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Friday's jobs cuts announcement comes 10 days after AT&T announced it was eliminating 71 operators' jobs in Connecticut because of declining customer use of directory assistance.

Marty Richter, a St. Louis-based spokesman for the company, said because of AT&T union contracts with CWA Local 1298, all of the workers are guaranteed jobs in Connecticut in other parts of the company.

"These aren't really layoffs," Richter said. The technicians positions are to be eliminated because a declining number of AT&T customers in Connecticut are using land line service and because technology advances make it possible to handle the company's instate repair load with fewer workers.

Henderson disagreed, saying, "These are layoffs, plain and simple."

"These people just came off of weeks of repairs from Hurricane Sandy," he said. "It's shameful."

Henderson said he contacted the office of Gov. Dannel Malloy on Friday and hopes to meet with state officials next week regarding the cuts.

"The only way the state can really do anything about this is before PURA, (the state's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority) if it affects the company's ability to meet standards for service restoration," he said. "We think there's no question that it will."

Richter said if the workers whose jobs are being cut elect not take the new positions being offered to them, their last day on the payroll would be Jan. 15th .

"If they leave, they would get a severance package," he said. "But we expect a lot of these folks to remain on the payroll."

Call Luther Turmelle at 203-789-5706 or follow him on Twitter @LutherTurmelle.